Unlike the UCLA offense so far this season, the Purdue offense is very well-balanced. Offensive coordinator Josh Henson is in his second year with the Boilermakers. Last season, Purdue passed the ball 51.8% of the time and ran it 48.2% of the time.
So far this season, the Boilermakers have run 80 times and thrown 76 times. So, Purdue has favored the run 51.3% to 48.7% for the pass. So, while the percentages have flipped so far this year, Henson’s offense has remained quite balanced.
By contrast, UCLA’s offense so far under the new coaching staff has been heavily tilted to the running game with 62.5% of the Bruins’ plays being runs and just 38.5% of UCLA’s plays have been pass plays.
Overall, Purdue’s offensive scheme is considered “multiple” rather being a more specific system like SDSU’s “Veer and Shoot.”
Of course, what plays Henson calls depend on the given personnel at any time. The first two weeks of the season have seen one change in starting offensive personnel. Keep in mind, that just because Purdue sends out 11 guys to start the game in a given formation to run a specific play, it doesn’t mean that those same 11 guys will be out there all game, nor does it mean they won’t change their formation depending on the situation at hand. I think the only time you can truly expect an offense to be that consistent might be in EA Sports College Football 27 when I continuously both run and pass from a two tight end formation because I can keep defenses off balance enough mixing in play action with my running game. Real football is just not that easy.
Let’s look at the probable starting personnel for Purdue.
Quarterback
Junior Ryan Browne will start at quarterback for the Boilermakers. This season, Browne is 55-for-71 for 646 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. He began this season throwing for more than 300 yards in both of Purdue’s games. He isn’t much of mobile quarterback. He has gained 26 yards but lost 32 for a net six-yard loss on ten rush attempts.
Browne is backed up by redshirt sophomore Evans Chuba. The Washington State transfer came to Purdue after spending 2024 on the Palouse. He saw his first action with the Boilermakers two weeks ago against Indiana State when he went 4-for-5 passing for 29 yards. He also ran the ball twice for a net loss of four yards.
Running Backs
Purdue’s starting running back is Minnesota transfer Fame Ijeboi. The redshirt sophomore has carried the ball 38 times so far this season, which is more than all of the Boilermakers other running backs combined, and his 201 net yards is almost twice as many yards as Purdue’s other backs. He is also the only back to find the end zone so far on the ground and he has caught eight passes for 72 yards
Purdue’s number two back is transfer Travis Terrell, Jr. The junior who transferred from Jackson State has carried 14 times for just 38 yards. He has also caught two passes for 16 yards.
Receivers & Tight Ends
The Boilermakers seem to have good depth in the receiving corps. It says a lot about your receivers when the team’s leading receiver hasn’t broken into the starting lineup. That’s exactly what has happened with Asaad Waseem. The junior who played at Colorado and Florida Atlantic before joining Purdue this year leads the team 172 receiving yards on 12 receptions, which is second-most on the team.
As far as the starting receivers go, they are Chauncey Magwood and De’Nylon Morrissette. Against Indiana State, Purdue started two tight ends, but against Wake Forest, they replaced the second tight end with receiver Xavier Townsend. Personally, I won’t be surprised if Waseem replaces Morrissette in the starting lineup as early as tomorrow. Morrissette didn’t have a catch against the Sycamores and he only had two last week against the Demon Deacons. He was only targeted four times despite playing 74 snaps. Waseem was targeted six times last week on 42 snaps and he caught all six targets.
For what it is worth, Townsend managed to play himself into a starting job last week with his six receptions against Indiana State. On the stat sheet, Waseem and Townsend are the Boilermakers’ top receivers even if they only have one start this season between them.
According to HammerAndNails.com, senior tight end George Burhenn is “in theory, is Purdue’s best red-zone receiver with his combination of size and jumping ability.” His availability may be in question due to injury, though, he isn’t listed on Purdue’s injury report.
Two weeks ago, Burhenn played more than twice as many snaps as any of the other tight ends, even though he didn’t start. Jackson Berryman has started both games but he has been exclusively a blocking tight end. Luca Puccinelli was the second starting tight end in Week One, but he hasn’t been targeted much. Ar’Mari Towns has three receptions for 15 yards, and while he has more targets than Berryman, it’s still not much. Don’t look for too much out of the Purdue tight ends tomorrow.
Offensive Line
While no offensive lineman played the whole game against Indiana State due to the game’s lopsided nature, only an injury to left guard Brock Brownfield kept Purdue from playing the starters for the entire game last week. Brownfield appears to be healthy now and is not on the injury report.
That’s good news for UCLA because the Bruins’ rotation-heavy swapping on both sides of the ball should allow Purdue’s offensive line to be worn down come the fourth quarter while UCLA remains fresher, giving the Bruins the fourth quarter edge they’ve enjoyed in their first time games.
Redshirt sophomore Nuku Mafi will start at left tackle for Purdue and senior Jude McCoskey will start at right tackle. Junior Southern Cal transfer Micah Banuelos will start at right guard while senior Boaz Stanley starts at center after transferring from the other SC, South Carolina.
Outlook
This will be the first real test for UCLA’s secondary. Browne has thrown for more than 300 yards in each of the last two weeks, and the Bruin secondary is a little banged up with Tao Johnson still out along with Joshua Dixon and Jamier Johnson. Jhase McMillan is also listed as doubtful in the UCLA secondary.
The Bruins will need to use the big guys up front to stop the run and to put pressure on Browne. The latter will help take some pressure off the secondary which didn’t look great on the final drive of the first half against UC Berkeley.
If Browne throws for more than 300 yards, UCLA could find itself in some trouble.
Go Bruins!!!
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